Best timing for an Alaska cruise?

[vincent15]

A question for those who have done an Alaska cruise - what is the best time to go to see the most wildlife?

Thanks so much for your help!!

[jhannah]

Generally speaking, early in the season provides the most sighting opportunities. The weather is better later on, however.

[Atomica]

Alaska is very unpredictable.

 

I've been in May, July and September. Best weather was in May (ironically), worst weather was in July when it rained...every...single...day.

 

Alaska is pretty in any weather, though. There should be plenty of wildlife in any month, though as jhannah said, there will probably be more early on in the season.

[emilygrace]

We've cruised to Alaska at the beginning of the season (early May) and at the end (mid September). On our September cruise we wore shorts every day and I only used a jacket when we were at the glaciers. We did see a mama bear and her two cubs and a ton of eagles.

 

Our May cruise was much different....cold and crisp, but absolutely stunning scenery. To me, this was the true Alaska, with lots of snow and ice still there. The small lake in front of Mendenhall Glacier was still half frozen over. Out of 14 days we only had rain on two afternoons, which I thought wasn't bad at all. We saw LOTS of whales and dolphins and sea otters. We even saw a sea otter frolicking among the loose ice chunks at Hubbard Glacier. He was right below our balcony. And of course, tons of eagles!

[kyriecat]

We sailed in the fall (Sept) and saw a ton of bears and eagles. We also took a land excursion up to Denali where the bears were very active. We also saw wolves, moose, ptarmigan (sp?), and various small, rodents. We didn't see very many whales or dolphins.